I'm not convinced the European Parliament needs to be democratic or powerful, but that people just need to believe it is. The EU is a talking shop, but on a con

I'm not convinced the European Parliament needs to be democratic or powerful, but that people just need to believe it is. The EU is a talking shop, but on a continent that's suffered from war so hugely keeping everyone talking is valuable. To keep everyone talking as a group, you need institutions with enough "weight" to orchestrate it, otherwise countries will peel off, ally up, and start attacking each other over all sorts of historical gripes again. A bit more like a localized and more integrated United Nations, than an actual government, perhaps.